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MST3K 209 - The Hellcats
The movie The brother and fiancee of a dead policeman infiltrate a biker gang to uncover his murderer. The episode Host segments Prologue: Joel and the Bots have bad colds. Joel tries to stop before he even starts. Invention Exchange: The SOL crew uses Tom Servo's head to distribute vapor that "may cause flashbacks". The Mads are still riding their Hobby Hogs, while Joel finally gets to demonstrate his Sign-Language Translator. The Mads are alarmed at Joel guessing the nature of the day's movie from the Hobby Hogs, then aren't sure why a minute later. Segment Two: Servo, typing in his journal, flashes back to the Shatner segment from The Crawling Hand. Segment Three: Crow, recording his journal, remembers the Zero Gravity segment from Rocketship X-M. Segment Four: Joel, writing in his journal, recalls the Gobo Sketch from Jungle Goddess. Segment Five: Gypsy tries to write in her journal. Everyone discusses their own diaries, the crew reads a letter from Italian fans, everyone has a group hug, and the Mads work through their own pain. Stinger: The trumpeter gets doused in booze. Obscure references * "Hey Aqualung" :" " is a song by the rock band , first released in 1971 on the album of the same name. * "Yard Ape here suggested you go first on the Invention Exchange." :In Beverly Cleary's series, "Yard Ape" is Ramona's nickname for Danny. * "I was following your lead, Mama Jama." :A reference to the song "She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)", which coined the urban phrase that is in reference to a curvaceous black woman who doesn't take grief from anyone. * "Look there goes Yasser Arafat in his teen days." : was the first president of the Palestinian National Authority from January 20, 1996 until his death on November 11, 2004. In the early 1990s when this episode was aired, Arafat was a member of the and was a staunch supporter of invasion of Kuwait in 1990-1991. He was known for wearing a particular type of headdress. * "Walk Like an Egyptian Man." :" " is a song recorded by and was Billboard's number-one song of 1987. * "Hair color by Bozo the Clown." : is the famed clown created by . First appearing as a character in a series of read-along storybooks released by Capital Records, he eventually evolved into becoming a popular television personality, whose height of popularity was in the 1960s. He is characterized by his bright red hair. * "Jackets from the Sonny Bono collection!" : was a singer-songwriter whose career was most prominent during his partnership with his second wife . * "I guess this is the day that the music died, huh guys?" : , the date when musical legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper died in a plane crash. The phrase was first coined in the Don McLean song . * "Now how much would you pay for this Ginsu Switchblade?" : is a brand of knife commonly marketed through infomercials which were at their height during the late 1970s and early 1980s. * "Hey Ted Bessell has nothing on that guy!" : was an actor best known for his role of Donald Hollinger on the television show That Girl. * "Tracy Chapman?" : is an American singer/song writer who has won four Grammies. Her best known single are: "Fast Car", "Talkin' 'bout a Revolution", "Baby Can I Hold You", "Give Me One Reason" and "Telling Stories". * "Lee Iacocca?" : was the American businessman who, as CEO of , revived the company in the 1980s. * "Fine Corinthian leather." :Ricardo Montalban did a series of commercials for the Chrysler Cordoba in the 1970s. In the ad he praised the "soft Corinthian leather" interior of the car. * "Backgrounds illustrated with the Technicolor yawn." :The "Technicolor Yawn" is a slang term referring to vomit, which in itself is a reference to the process of colorizing film. * "Oh no, Ross Hagen!" "*grumble grumble* Chili peppers burn my gut." :Ross Hagen was an actor who starred in the Experiment #202 movie The Side Hackers. "Chili peppers burn my gut," is a frequently used callback to that film. * "Hey Bro Beck! Hope he plays 'Take Five'!" : " " is a jazz standard originally recorded by the for their 1959 album . * "This is kind of like a Rorschach test." :The is an inkblot test to see how people psychologically interpret random inkblots that may resemble real things. * "Kinda looks like Jackson Pollock did the background paintings." "Yeah, after the car accident" : was a abstract expressionist painter who died in 1956 in an alcohol related car accident. * "Gus Trikonis, in charge of under-cooked pork!" : a parasitic disease that is commonly contracted from eating under-cooked pork or wild game. * "Huh, Houston, Hubbs, Prince and Hong. Which one of these doesn't belong?" : This alludes to the segment called "One of These Things is Not Like the Others", where children would identify the uncommon item in a group of three or four things. * "Hey Erik Lidberg, he flew from New York to Paris." : was an aviator who flew from New York to Paris on May 20-21st 1927. * "Motorcycles from Ford Puckett, Kirby Puckett's brother!" : was a center fielder for the Minnesota Twins 1984-1995. In 1987, Puckett helped the Twins win the World Series. * "Cemetery furnishings by Jiffy TOMB." : a franchise of mechanic shops that specialize in oil changes. * "Author of the Kinsey Reports" :The are a duology concerned with human sexual behavior that were the subject of controversy when first released in 1948 and 1953. * "Oh if this is a Slatzer film, it might get really bloody." : are a sub-genre of horror movies that primarily focus on a (sometimes supernatural) killer who typically uses blade weapons to murder their victims. * "Scenic Love Canal!" : is an area of Niagara Falls, New York that became the location of chemical dumping by in the 1950s. * "Hey, they're playing 'The Girl from Ipanema' here!" : " " is a bossa nova song written in 1962 which won a Record of the Year Grammy in 1965. * "Tall and tan and young and lovely, the boy from Ipanema goes biking. And when he bikes all the guys on their motor trikes go 'ahhh'!" :A parody of the lyrics to "The Girl from Ipanema" (see above), which originally go, "Tall and tan and young and lovely/The girl from Ipanema goes walking,/And when she passes, each one she passes goes, 'Ahhh.'" * "Huh-huh.. Nice read... Richards." : , otherwise known as Mister Fantastic, is the leader of the Marvel comic book heroes known as the . * "I get it, she was the girl who was the star in ''Then Came Bronson!"'' : was ashort-lived television series from 1969 which starred in the title role. * "Was not was! There! I made a meaningless pop culture reference, so knock it off!" : was a pop rock group that was together from 1979-1992 and 2004 to present. During the time this episode aired, they had just released their album " ". They are probably best known as the band who performed "Walk the Dinosaur." * "Meanwhile, out on Route 66, James Dean goes out for a lazy spin." : was an actor best known for portraying disillusioned teens, exemplafied by his role in . He died in a car accident on U.S. Route 466 on September 30, 1955. * "I just love this Charles Ives music! Got any Ralph Vaughan Williams?" : was one of the first American modernist composers to gain international acclaim. was a English composer whose compositions were influenced by Tudor-era music and English folk songs. * "Hi, the director here again, telling you I use Vitalis." : Vitalis is a hair tonic formerly made by Bristol-Myers. * "Lets park the Barbie mobile right here!" : is a popular line of dolls produced by Mattel, for which there are a wide range of accessories. * "Take my hand. I'm a stranger in paradise." :" " is a song from the 1953 stage musical . * "She is wearing a Sunkist promotional pant suit. She must be one of the Golddiggers." : is a company that is known for is production of citrus flavored beverages. were a song and dance troupe who regualrly appeared on . * "Dear Diary, call me Ishmael!" :"Call me Ishmael," is the opening line of the Herman Melville novel . * "... Like the other day, or maybe it was last year... before my voice changed.." :During the first season of Mystery Science Theater 3000, Tom Servo was voiced by J. Elvis Weinstien. Servo was then voiced by Kevin Murphy for the remainder of the original series. * "Must think, Must Get back to Galileo-7..." :A parody of William Shatner's delivery of lines (usually with dramatic pauses between words), in particular when he portrays James T. Kirk on Star Trek. The hand theme is most likely a reference to the fifth Star Trek film, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The Galileo Seven is an episode from the original series in which seven members of the crew of the Enterprise are away planetside on a shuttlecraft named Galileo. * "Must cut transponder from wrist and fashion crude phaser device from..." :Likely alludes to the Star Trek episode " ", in which Kirk defeats a Gorn using a crude musket cobbled together from available materials. * "... Must find pastel colored native female, and initiate the Prime Directive..." :The comment about "pastel colored natives" is in reference to the Orion slave girl first seen in the Star Trek episode " " (the scene in question recycling footage from the unaired pilot " "), who also appeared in the final still of the first season's end credit sequence. The is a Federation statute which prohibits interfering in the development of civilizations that haven't developed warp drive technology. * "Hands so soft... Mrs. Berg... I thought you were dead!..." :Possibly a reference to , creator and star of . * "It was a fortnight ago... It was a dark and stormy night... We'll be right back" :The phrase "It was a dark and stormy night" has come to be seen a a signifier of a written work made of of overly melodramatic prose. The earliest known written use occurred in A History of New York, but it was its use in the Edward Bulwer-Lytton novel that caused it to gain memetic traction. * "That is one unsavory character. I can't have that. I got to call Plot-Stoppers." : is an international organization that offers people in a given region to leave anonymous tips of crimes that have been committed in their area, sometimes offering rewards that lead to arrests. * "Hello Angels..." :This is the greeting used by the employer of the title characters on the television series , who was never shown on-screen. He was voiced by John Forsythe. * "Her back look like a Klingon's forehead!" :The are an alien race from the Star Trek franchise. Originally depicted as normal humanoids, they were first depicted as having ridged brows in and maintained this appearance in most later incarnations of the series. * "Every selection on there looks like 'Louie, Louie' except for this one." :" " is a rock 'n' roll song composed by Richard Berry in 1955 and covered by many other performers since then. * "Sounds like Question Mark & the Mysterians." : is a rock band that first formed in 1962. * "Did you know this cameraman first got his start on ''Midnight Special?"'' : is a music variety show that aired from 1973-1981. * "Louise Lasser!" : is an actress best known for the title role on the soap-opera parody . * "Six-Pack: Currently working for the Roseanne Barr Show." : was a sitcom that ran 1988-1997. It starred female comedian and centered around the antics of her dysfunctional, working-class family. * "Little Sally, girl friday to Susan Saint James." :The term "Girl Friday" (sometimes "Gal Friday") is an idiom that describes a loyal servant (the male equivalent is referred to as a "Man Friday") It derives from the character Friday from the Daniel Defoe novel . : is an actress and activist. She is best known for her role on the television shows and , as well as her work with the . * "Slugger: Found dead with a Coors Party Ball lodged in throat." : is a brand of beer brewed by the Coors Brewing Company, founded in 1873. * "Puck, founder of the ''Avant-Garde Dance Group."'' : is a trickster character from English folklore best known for his appearance in the Shakespeare play A Midsummer Night's Dream. * "Iggy Pop: We don't know why." : is a punk rock musician who has been performing since the 1960s. he's known for his emaciated build. * "Squatter: Took a baseball to the head in the third inning of an Angels game." : are a Major League Baseball team from Los Angeles first founded in 1961. They are currently known as the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. * "Oh it's Shields and Yarnell entertaining the folks with their side-walk robot routine." : are mimes who put on routines where they moved in a robotic and mechanical fashion. * "Somebody put a wallet under the guy's tongue or something!" :Conventional wisdom holds that a wallet (or another similarly durable but soft item) should be put in the mouth of someone suffering an to keep the person from biting their own tongue and suffering more serious injury/blood loss. * "Timothy Hutton before the boat trip." : is an actor and director who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1980 film . The boat trip reference is from the same film. The plot follows a family who is coming to terms with the death of their son as a result of a boating accident. * "Drew Barrymore!" : is an actress from a dynastic family of actors. She forst came to prominence as a child for her performance in E.T.: The Extraterrestrial. Following a period of substance abuse, she rebounded to a successful career as both an actress and a filmmaker. * "And a man so mean that he once shot himself for snoring too loud." :A paraphasing of a television ad line for the Old West series from Time-Life Books, which described outlaw as, "so mean he once shot a man just for snoring." * "Hey, Sally Kellerman!" : is an actress best known for her role as Major Margaret "Hot Lips" Houlihan in the 1970 film version of M*A*S*H. * "Hey look, Flo and Eddie!" : is a pop music duo consisting of Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan, who were founding members of The Turtles. * "Hi and Lois!" :" " is a newspaper comic strip originally created by Mort Walker and Dik Browne. * "Hey, it's Buck Henry!" : is an actor and filmmaker best known as the co-creator of Get Smart and as a performer on Saturday Night Live (including ten guest host spots) in the 1970s. * "... Or Father Molokai." : was a Catholic priest originally from Belgium best known for his ministry at the Hawaiian leper colony of Kalawao 1873-1889. He was canonized as a saint in 2009. * "These are the Manson Family home videos. Here Tex, Squeaky and the gang light-heartedly tease Charlie." : The was a cult gathered by notorious serial criminal Charles Manson, who manipulated his followers into murdering actress Sharon Tate as well as Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Manson was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder on January 25, 1971 and died in prison in 2017. : , was one of the members involved in the Tate and LaBianca murders and was convicted in October 12, 1971. Like Manson he was sentenced to death until the death sentence was repealed in the state of California and now serves a life sentence. : was a member who was not involved in the above mentioned murders. She gained notoriety in 1975 when she attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford. She was in prison until her release on August 14, 2009. * "Beware of the Dwarf!" :A reference to the 1978 comedic mystery . In the film character Bob "Scotty" Scott (played by Bruce Solomon) warns Gloria Mundy (played by Goldie Hawn) to "Beware of the Dwarf!" before dying early on in the film. * "Our minds are melding, we are becoming one!" :On Star Trek, Spock would recite this phrase when he performed a Vulcan mind meld. * "Because Pepperidge Farm remembers!" :An advertising slogan for baked products which was used in their commercials in the 1980s. * "Better get him some cocaine or something." : (benzoylmethylecgonine) is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. It's a controlled substance in most countries. Users commonly inhale it up their nose. * "Good thing Cher is there to walk the guy around!" : (born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer, and philanthropist. * "Everything's Archie." : was a comic book published from 1969 to 1991 by Archie Comics to promote their latest flagship franchise, a band called The Archies featuring their title character Archie Andrews and the cast of characters from his self titled comic book. "Everything's Archie" was also a song recorded and released by The Archies, which was used as the theme song for the animated "The Archie Show". * "Great way to ruin a party! I hate it when people O.D." :O.D. is a slang term for a drug overdose. * "So this isn't a meeting of the Young Republicans?" :The is an organization for members of the Republican Party of the United States between the ages of 18 and 40. It has both a national organization and chapters in individual states. The oldest incarnation was founded in New York City in April 1911. * "So, you're the Hellcats? I'm a corporate raider." :A corporate raider is someone who buys a large interest in a corporation and then using voting rights to enact measures directed at increasing the share value. The measures might include replacing top executives, downsizing operations, or liquidating the company. * "I want it lean. The boss is making Yankee pot roast." : is a brazed beef dish commonly using tougher cuts. * "This must be the stunt cast from ''Room 222."'' : is a television comedy-drama that aired 1969-1974 which centered on American the history class in the titular Room 222 at the fictional Walt Whitman High School. * "Well you misspelled Skelter!" :When the Manson Family killed Leno and Rosemary LaBianco, one of them wrote "Helter Skelter" (the title of a Beatles song) on the wall in the victims' blood, but misspelled it "Helter Skealter". * "Bridget Loves Bernie." : is a sitcom that aired one season 1972-1973. It centered around the romance of an Irish Catholic school teacher and a Jewish taxi driver. * "Hmm, 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips', 'Five the Hard Way'... –Is there anything by Hoyt Axton on this?" : is a song first published in 1929. It was written by Al Dubin and Joe Burke. It was popularized in the 1968 by singer Tiny Tim. :Five The Hard Way is an alternate title for The Side Hackers, shown in Experiment #202. : was a country music singer, best known for his songs "Joy to the World" and "The Pusher". The SOL crew would hear a song by Hoyt Axton years later - the theme to Mitchell. * "Hey do you like Pina Coladas and getting caught in the rain?" :Line from the 1979 Rupert Holmes song " ", which is frequently referred to as The Pina Coloda Song. *''"We're going to Dairy Queen! Whoo!"'' : is a fast food franchise first established in 1940, specializing in ice cream and other frozen treats. * "He was in Pippin!" : is a Broadway musical loosely inspired by the story of Charlemagne's son Pepin the Hunchback. *''"Kookie!"'' :Kookie was a supporting character on the private eye series . He was a valet/parking lot attendant with a high pompadour which he combed frequently. *''"I'm not even supposed to be in this film. They lose me after the bunker scene."'' :Line from the movie , spoken by an actor in the commissary dressed as Hitler. *''"Filmed in Zapruder vision, guys."'' :The is arguably the most famous footage of the , shot on an 8mm home movie camera. *''"These are the chains I forged in life."'' :A paraphrased quote from the Carles Dickens novel , spoken by the ghost of Jacob Marley. Behind the scenes MST3K cast Regular cast *Joel Hodgson - Joel Robinson *Trace Beaulieu - Crow T. Robot / Dr. Clayton Forrester *Kevin Murphy - Tom Servo *Frank Conniff - TV's Frank *Jim Mallon - Gypsy MST3K crew Production *This is the only nationally televised flashback episode. (Flashbacks were also the theme of [[Superdome|K15 - Superdome]], though only one was a true clip from a previous episode.) During the production of the episode most of the writing staff was out of town, resulting in the use of footage from previous episodes. * Joel's Sign-Language Translator first appeared in the previous episode, Lost Continent. Joel was all set to demonstrate when the Mads said they didn't have time for him to do so. *Tom notes his flashback occurs "before his voice changed". *Crow's diary salutation of "Dear Kitty" is the same used by in her own famous diary. *Crow and Tom wear their robes in the theater for the entire show. *Through reruns, and before the reinstating on home video, this was the only way for fans not familiar with them to see segments from season one via the flashbacks. *Magic Voice changes to Alexandra Carr with this episode. Callbacks * Several variations on “That was number 5!” and "Chili peppers burn my gut" (The Side Hackers). * “He hit Big Jake!” (The Side Hackers) * "That square bugs me! He really bugs me!" (Wild Rebels) * “Yew and your daughter are doomt!” (Robot Holocaust) * "SPACOM." (Project Moon Base) * "Creepy Girl" (Catalina Caper) Goofs * During the riffing of the opening credits when they spot the name Davy Jones, they refer to it as being before he had joined . Not only is this a different Davy Jones, but the film was made at the same time that the Monkees television series was airing. Movie Edits As with most riffed movies, The Hellcats was edited to fit within the desired time slot by having several scenes trimmed. Removed footage in this film includes: * About a minute from the opening of the movie, including establishing shots of the graveyard followed by the Hellcats arriving in a funeral procession. * Scenes of the bikers riding out to pick up Sheila before tailing the mobsters to the docks. * A scene where two police officers arrive at the bar and call an ambulance for the injured bartender. Video releases * Released on VHS by Rhino Entertainment in 2000. * Released as a DVD Single by Rhino in June 2002. The disc went out of print sometime by 2008. ** DVD special features include the original theatrical trailer, and on the disc's flip side, the original film. * Digitally available through Shoutfactorytv.com, Amazon Instant Video, Youtube, iTunes, Vudu, and VHX. * In May 2018 it was re-released by Shout! Factory in Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Singles Collection. ** DVD special features include the original theatrical trailer. Gallery References Hellcats Hellcats Category:Star Trek spoofs Category:Episodes directed by Jim Mallon